
The STOP Award $1 Million Prize
Honoring education providers that continued to perform for underserved families during Covid.
We are proud to support and endorse their work in the future to provide Sustainable, Transformational and Outstanding education for students in Permissionless settings.
Presented in Partnership with


About the Award
Education for millions of students was upended by the pandemic. Many schools were simply unable to deliver even an adequate learning experience. But times of great challenge often lead to watershed moments of innovation and opportunity.
Thanks to the vision of education advocate and long-time CER board member and philanthropist Janine Yass, the STOP Award was born. Mrs. Yass, who together with her husband Jeff Yass has singularly focused their philanthropy on helping underserved families and children acquire the education they deserve, wanted to see heroic educators who defied conventional wisdom and continued to educate students during COVID be recognized for their role in keeping the nation’s most precious resource moving forward.
The Center for Education Reform partnered with Mrs. Yass, as well as the powerful Forbes conglomerate to introduce the STOP Award in August 2021. The STOP Award is a $1 million dollar prize presented to an education provider, exceptional group of people, or organization that has demonstrated accomplishment during COVID by providing an education experience that is Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless.
The STOP Award is committed to helping ensure that families, now and in the future, get what they deserve: access to individualized learning opportunities for their students, offered in supportive environments, alongside their peers.
After receiving a deep and extremely impressive wave of applications, we identified an exceptional group of 20 Semifinalists which were announced in early November.
From this notable group, our team faced the difficult task of selecting five worthy Finalists. These special groups were recognized on December 8th. Together, these five nominees form our distinguished Finalist Cohort.
The inaugural STOP Award Winner was revealed during the annual 30 Under 30 gathering hosted by Forbes on December 14, 2021.
We are truly honored to bring these inspired and inspiring teams together in order to advance their significant contributions to the education landscape.
SEP
8
SEP
8
CER Introduces the STOP Award; Application Period Opens
OCT
31
OCT
31
Application Window Closes
NOV
5
NOV
5
STOP’s 20 winning Semifinalists Unveiled
NOV
8
NOV
8
GSV + STOP Award Accelerator Convenes virtually and in Dallas
DEC
2
DEC
2
Benefactor Janine Yass announces she is adding $2.5 million to the original $1 million prize. There will be additional prizes of $250,000 to the four finalists and 15 $100,000 prizes awarded to the semifinalists.
DEC
8
DEC
8
Five Finalists for $1 million prize announced!
DEC
14
DEC
14
Inaugural STOP Award $1 million prize and runners up presented to 2021 winner at Forbes on Fifth in NYC.
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News & Updates
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From Disruption To Innovation: Adapting To Unprecedented Schooling Challenges
This article covers many of the reasons the STOP Award exists, to reward those who do not fail our kids.
WSJ: The Real Structural Racism
Connect with Us
Have additional questions that haven’t been answered above?
For more information, please contact the STOP Award team at info@ STOPaward.com or reach us by phone at 202-750-0016. You can also follow us on Instagram (@stopaward) and Facebook.
For more information about the Center for Education Reform, please visit CER’s website: edreform.com.